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Broken Bow touts 4-year-old national champion

When the Jonas family returned from their trip to the corn palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, their daughter Anya had brought back plenty of hardware. The 4-year-old from Broken Bow held the trophy for the National Pedal Pull Championship for her age group. Anya’s “Grandpa Ken”, as they call him, is involved in tractor pulls and the family felt Anya might have the right qualities to be successful at it. “My husband saw that they were having a pedal pull contest at the Custer County Fair,” Anya’s mom Carie Bush said. “Anya has the biggest calves of any 4 year old we’ve seen, so he thought she would do great at it.” After winning the Custer County Fair Pedal Pull, Anya moved on to compete at the state level during the state fair in Grand Island. She won more hardware at that event, taking home the top 4 year old spot in the state and securing a place in the National competition. At Nationals, she competed against 26 other contestats from around the United States including two others from Nebraska. The other states includedd Vermont, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas and Wisconsin. While still early in her education, Anya has already learned the effectiveness of a balanced diet. “I eat lots of broccoli and lots of fruit,” Anya said. “That’s how I get strong.” While Anya is a big ice cream fan like most other four-year-old girls, she even boasts broccoli as one of her favorite foods. She also stays active riding her bike, riding her horse Okie Dokie and running around at the daycare playground. “That’s called excercising,” Anya said. Anya was able to make it through the first round of pulls fairly easily, but the struggle came when the weight on the back of the bike began to get heavier. Even with the added weight, Anya knew she had to keep pushing ahead. “Just keep going and don’t stop,” Anya said. All of the 16 contestants that showed up made full pulls in the first round, but Anya outlasted the competition in the second round, going the farthest. While the trophies and medals will look good on a shelf at home, Anya’s favorite prize was getting to pick two items from the nearby candy store. The Jonas family isn’t done yet. There is an international tractor pull compeition taking place in August. Anya has the idea that this will be taking place in the magical lands of France or China. France will actually be Fairfield, Iowa, where they will take the top five from each age group in the United States and the top five from Canada and have the “International Competition.” The Natioanl Pedal Pull is for riders between the ages of four and 12, who have qualified from their state competitions. If a contestant turns 13 before the start of the start of the competition, they are not eligible to compete. Trophies are awarded to places 1-5.